Helping Sells Radio

The world has changed dramatically since mid-March. One thing that has not changed is that you have customers to help. How do you help customers in a COVID-19 world? Keri Keeling, Global head, customer success innovation & Intelligence at VMWare and member with me on the board of the Customer Success Leadership Network, joins Helping Sells Radio to help us figure this out.   Keri reminds us that some of our customers may need us now more than ever. Some customers might even be killing it because the demand for their products is going up. We should help these customers and offer them something of more value that can help them even further. Other customers might not be doing so well. What can we do to help these customers? We might not be in a position to help, but if we can, we should think about how we can help customers with extended renewals, change billing cycles to make it easier to pay, provide extensions, downgrade plans to address only what customers actually need for now.

Imagine if your sales calls were more like planning sessions. Imagine if you could work on a buying plan and a project plan with your prospect.  Mutually.  Together.  What if you did this, and your prospect was so bought in, because they helped create the plan, that they did at least as much as you did to get the deal through? This is all possible with the Mutual Action Plan (MAP). Tom Williams, co-founder and CEO of Dealpoint, joins Helping Sells Radio to talk about Mutual Action Plans and how they will help you help your prospects buy. And buy an offering you know you can deliver. After all, you worked on the plan together.  Learn more: That SalesHacker article about mutual action plans: https://www.saleshacker.com/mutual-action-plans/The Dealpoint.io blog describing mutual action plans and the template: https://www.dealpoint.io/map/Tom Williams on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tdgwilliams/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

I know what you’re thinking. Influencer marketing is for celebrities on Instagram and that most of the time, these relationships are inauthentic. You might even know of the stories of influencers and brands not even using the products they are paid to promote.  This leaves a bad taste in your mouth all by itself.  Then you throw in the idea that influencer marketing can be used in B2B and you say, “OK. That’s it. I’m not buying it.”  Maybe you should buy it because Magda Houalla, Director of Marketing Strategy at AspireIQ, says that influencer marketing can work very well in B2B.  If you are authentic. If you treat it more like building a community than just selling. If you link it to a higher business strategy. If you have specific goals.  If you have the right expectations.  B2B brands have influencers. These influencers are authors, your best customers, bloggers in your space, developer advocates, consultants, the list can go on. You just hav

Thanks to my discussion with Rob Israch, chief marketing officer and alliances at Tipalti, I have a much different view of net promotor score (NPS) and customer advocacy. Customer advocacy is a lot more of a growth driver than we might think, on the surface. And NPS might be the ultimate leading indicator of that growth.  According to Rob, if you peel back the layers of why companies like Salesforce and Zendesk and Slack have been so successful, you will see they had a lot of word of mouth, high retention, virality, high NPS scores, strong customer satisfaction and a company culture that support customers in such a way that customers are eager to tell others about these companies.  Customer talk about you. How great you are. How great your product is. How great it is to work with you.  This is all customer advocacy.  And NPS is a really good measure because it asks people about their willingness to recommend. In other words, are customers willing to advocate for you.  NPS measure

“Imagine a world in which people couldn’t wait to talk to a salesperson.” If all sales people were trained by Alice Heiman, that world just might exist.  The moment I read this passage from Alice’s blog, Customers for Life: The Art of Keeping your best customers for life, I knew I had to get her on the show:  Traditionally it was the salesperson’s job to land new accounts and keep them. Today, most organizations have separated the jobs and have salespeople looking for new business and account managers working with existing accounts to grow them. Some companies also have customer support people to assist customers. More recently, companies have started to have Customer Success departments. With all these people concerned about the customers, we should be able to retain them.And yet somehow, it is not necessarily true.  If everyone owns the customer, no one owns the customer.  This is what Alice and I talk about. Learn more about Alice: On LinkedinHer websi

Welcome to a special episode of Helping Sells Radio. Actually, It’s an experiment. The experiment is a series of episodes we’re going to call a Podstorm. Hat tip to Christopher Lochhead for “inventing” the term podstorm and giving us the idea to try it. In this podstorm Megan Macaluso, VP of customer success and operations at ESG is BACK. And we are going to continue with our theme of ranting about work...and this episode: “Things That Drive Us Nuts at Work, But We Still Do Anyway. Except That We Blame Others for Doing It. Because Of Course We Don’t Do These Things. Other People Do.”In this episode we talk about asking for a budget versus planning and forecasting. In their book, “Simple numbers, straight talk, big profits: 4 keys to unlock your business potential,”  Greg Crabtree and Beverly Blair Harzog write, “A budget is a license to spend; a forecast is your roadmap to profitability.” Saying that you don’t need a budget

This is a special episode of Helping Sells Radio. Actually, It’s an experiment. The experiment is a series of episodes we’re going to call a Podstorm. Hat tip to Christopher Lochhead for “inventing” the term podstorm and giving us the idea to try it.  Our first podstorm is with Megan Macaluso, VP of customer success and operations at ESG. The name of this episode is called: “Things That Drive Us Nuts at Work, But We Still Do Anyway. Except That We Blame Others for Doing It. Because Of Course We Don’t Do These Things. Other People Do.” On this episode, we talk about:Contact hoardingAdoption is a fool’s errandDeath By synergyBasically, Megan and I just recorded what would otherwise be a normal phone call between us. Enjoy.Here is a link to Kerry Bondine’s Journey Mapping Workshop that Megan attended: https://kerrybodine.com/customer-journeys/bootcamp/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

If customer success is about being proactive and helping customers achieve outcomes and challenging customers to do their jobs better, then Rohit Bhargava’s book, Non-obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future, is the greatest customer success book of all time. I don’t say that lightly. I say that because Rohit’s book lays out precisely how to help customers in a more proactive and valuable way than you might be used to. It goes way beyond the usual "help customers use our software better so they can do their job and achieve their goals” mentality.  It provides a method and a discipline for helping customers see around corners and identify trends and navigate the market?  Rohit’s book will help you be an actual trusted advisor. As much as we’d like to think we do, we [customer success] don’t really do that. In the real world, I think we still sell software and then help customers use it.Non-Obvious Me

As Jason Bradshaw describes in his book, It’s all about CEX! The Essential Guide to Customer and Employee Experience, in 1994 customer service was the differentiator. In the early 2000s it was engagement. Today is all about customer experience management. Sounds good.  Here’s the problem.  Customer experience is one of those terms that sounds good, everyone knows it’s important, but no one really knows how to define it. It’s too vague.In his book, Jason gives us an excellent framework for measuring customer experience that I understand. And that I can use to design a strategy that I could execute.  Maybe CX is not so vague after all.  A framework for measuring customer experienceHere’s what I learned from Jason about customer experience. You can measure it with three things:  Success: You have to deliver on your promise. If your customer ordered something, the delivery needs to happen on time. If a customer requests to turn on the new modul

I bet you’ve never connected the dots that accounts receivable is a business process that is so tightly connected with customer success. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about that. Sure, we know that collecting money on invoices is important, and we know cash flow is what makes our companies run and what makes the payroll happen. But don’t most of us think that invoices just go about and customers mostly just pay them?  Be honest.  I promise, after you listen to this discussion with YayPay chief product officer, Nicole Dwyer, you will have a new appreciation for the  link accounts receivable has with customers and a new way of thinking about how you work with your customers in whatever business process your software addresses.  Let’s just talk about one example that we talked about with Nicole and one of her customers.  Accounts receivable is not just about looking at a receivables aging reporting and asking, “Why is this customer 3 days late o

"Why don’t they just say no,” say customer success managers of sales executives who close deals with customers who do not fit the ideal customer profile. Now the customer success manager has to deal with customers who have expectations that do not fit with what the product or service actually does well.  We have just gotten off on the wrong foot, and this situation is not good for anyone. That customer, during the on-boarding process, is already expressing disappointment and is evening thinking about not renewing.  On day one.  Of course our churn rates are high. The sales team is selling to the wrong customers. Even after our CEO said in the last three town hall meetings, “We have published our value proposition canvases and ideal customers profiles on the wiki, and we have designed our product and are running sales and marketing campaigns designed to get more ideal customers.  So, I ask again, “Why don’t they say no?” Think about this from the sales pe

I work in technology. You might say I work on the forefront of some. But I must admit, when I hear someone lead a conversation with the statement, “We need an AI strategy,” my spidey-senses start to fire. Danger. Danger. Danger.  I don’t just mean AI. The statement could be any of the following… We need a machine learning strategy. We need a big data strategy. Let’s hire a data scientist. We need podcast strategy. When you hear someone in your company talking like this, you can sound like the trillion dollar coach, Bill Campbell, by asking the group, “What problem (opportunity) are we trying to solve?” This very exchange is why I wanted to have Neil Sahota on Helping Sells Radio. I wanted Neil to save us from the insane conversations we’re having about all the different strategies these so-called visionaries are telling us we need.  Neil Sahota is an IBM Master Inventor, United Nations (UN) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advisor, Faculty at UC Irvine, an

Sales is changing. 90% of people won’t pick up a cold call and 53% prefer researching online. This doesn’t make things easy on the sales executive who is trying to help prospects make improvements in their businesses. How are sales execs supposed to communicate with prospects if no one is picking up the phone?  Matt Barnett, CEO of Bonjoro, says asynchronous video is the answer. He created his company to help sales people communicate authentically with prospects. It seems to be working. According to SalesLoft, sales teams that use video have 20% higher close rates AND 30% higher deal sizes. When I began talking to Matt, I was skeptical. Isn’t video hard? Don’t we need heavy software? Isn’t there editing involved? And what about audio quality? Not everyone is comfortable on video. How is this going to work?  These were all the questions I had for Matt. I must admit. He turned me around. It’s an asynchronous world. We don’t just call someone out of the blue, h

As Sam Horodezky so eloquently puts it: if you ask people if they would except anything less than the best user experience design, most people would probably say “No! I won’t.” But few of those same people are willing to do what is necessary to create the best user experience design. And that is how we started this episode.  Loyal listeners of Helping Sells Radio know that I am not a designer. Far from it. I don’t understand it, and I could not recognize it if I saw it.  Basically, I am not really interested in it, so I don’t put the time in to learn about it.  It’s not my thing.  But when I had a chance to interview Sam Horodezky, founder of Strathearn Design, I jumped at the chance. Here’s why.  He specializes in B2B UX design. This is a B2B podcast. I know just enough about UX design to know that if a product is designed well, it can help customers be more successful with it. The language on his website talks about helping customers achieve

Should you target the decision-maker or the champion? I bet most of you would say, “Target the decision-maker. They sign the check, after all.” Not so fast, advises Garrett Mehrguth, CEO and co-founder of Directive, a performance marketing company for SaaS brands.  Think about how a decision-maker (the boss) makes decisions. They say the manager (the champion) who reports to them, “Let’s look into some options for this product. Go do some research, pick your favorite two or three, and I’ll help make a decision on those.” The decision-make is not doing the research. The champion is. If you are going to help this team, you need content that the champion can find. Once you are found and make the cut, you need a sales process that is targeted at the decision-maker. Then, after the sales is made, you need customer success targeted at the champion again because that is who you will be working with. Garrett says it perfectly:"We make our point of

OK. I get that you want to nurture your leads, but is your email newsletter really helping your audience? Or are you just trying to stuff as much information into that email as you can. Be honest. We’ve all done it. Added more topics to the newsletter to make it more informational. And just when you think you're done, the VP says, “Before you send the newsletter, add a blurb about the new professional services offering.” Good grief.  The newsletter is no longer about your audience. It’s about you. Emily McGuire wants you to stop sending your email newsletter altogether. It’s not helpful. You are angering your audience, wasting your time, and most importantly, you are not driving your business forward.  We talk to Emily about some alternatives to your newsletter. It doesn’t mean don’t send emails. Emily is an email marketing expert. She’s not going to tell you that. Emily is going to tell you about better ways to use email. Email that is both

How do you get your customers to use your software? To execute that onboarding plan? To implement the plan from your last QBR? Amy Bucher, author of "Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change," might be able to help. With the right design approach that is based on marrying psychology and design, you can help customers change their behavior. This is what behavior change design is all about. You discover what your customers value and help them realize that. It’s not easy. But there is a method.    More about Amy:  Her book: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/engaged-designing-for-behavior-change/ Her website: https://www.amybucherphd.com/ Her work at MadPow: https://madpow.com/about/team/all The Michael Metts tweet:  https://twitter.com/mjmetts/status/1243020392731750401 Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Maybe it’s not the only way to look at the jobs-to-be-done framework, but it might be the most clarifying way. Jim Kalbach, author of "The Jobs To Be Done Playbook: Align Your Markets, Organization, and Strategy Around Customer Needs” suggests you look at it this way…when studying a customer’s job, ask yourself, “How would this job get done 50 years ago?”   The point of this question is the remove the notion that current technology and knowledge does not exist and helps the product manager think about the job without the constraints of modernity. It helps the product look at the essence of the job itself.    The product designer can go beyond the product.    This simple technique helped me understand jobs-to-be-done better. This episode will help you understand better.    More about Jim: The book: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/jobs-to-be-done-book/ Jim’s Talk at CS100 Summit 2019:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdB

Maybe I am spoiling the end, but I can’t help myself. Michael Pollack, co-founder of Intricately, tells a story about how his team…using the data his product helps customers collect and used, helped his customer see a new opportunity, develop a new offering, and take to market.    This is not even necessarily what his product helps customers do. His team went above and beyond the strict purpose of the product to help his customer achieve an outcome larger than their relationship required.    There could not be a better manifestation of Helping Sells Radio. It takes Heidi Gardner’s (Ep 110). “Smart Collaboration” concept to the next level.    It’s called customer success, not our success, for a reason.    Learn more about Michael: His Website: https://www.intricately.com/ On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpollack/ Subscribe at helpingsells.substack.com

Rob Markey, Bain & Co partner, author of "The Ultimate Question 2.0," and co-creator of the Net Promoter System (NPS) has a new Harvard Business Review article out. It’s called, “Are you undervaluing your customers?”    I think this is the right question to ask.    After all, the purpose of a business is to create and keep customers, says Peter Drucker. Yet, too often we get caught up in other pursuits…bookings, billings, revenue, earnings per share, churn, health scores, comp plans, reorgs, endless arguments over who owns the customer experience.    I could go on, but I will spare you.    This is not a dig.    It’s easy to get focused on these things because there are so many important and urgent things to do.    Plus.   The financials are important.    It’s just that customers drive the financials, so maybe we should start there.    And as Rob reminds us. Focusing on customers IS abou